Co-Occurring HIV Risk Behaviors among Males Entering Jail

TL;DR

This study identifies key co-occurring HIV risk behaviors among male jail detainees, highlighting the need for targeted, multi-behavioral interventions tailored to demographic factors to effectively reduce HIV transmission risk.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of co-occurring HIV risk behaviors and their demographic associations among male jail detainees, informing targeted intervention strategies.

Findings

Cocaine, heroin, and multiple sexual partners often co-occur.

Heavy drinking and marijuana use frequently co-occur.

Heroin use linked to middle age and prior incarcerations.

Abstract

This paper examines the pattern of HIV risk behaviors among male jail detainees. From multivariate analyses of baseline data from an HIV intervention study of ours, we find that: (1) cocaine use, heroin use and multiple sexual partners; and (2) heavy drinking and marijuana are often co-occurring among this population. From pairwise analyses, we find that (1) heroin and IDU (2) unprotected sexes with main, with non-main, and in last sexual encounter are mostly co-occurring. IDU is found to be associated with middle ages (30-40) and multiple prior incarcerations, and multiple sex partners associated young males with age <30, African American race, and low education. Our findings suggest that efficient interventions to reduce HIV infection in this high-risk population may have to target on these behaviors simultaneously and be demographically adapted.